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Your ATTN Please || Tuesday, 28 October

Your ATTN Please || Tuesday, 28 October

October 28, 2025

Mirror selfies with a flash camera. Low-rise jeans and babydoll tees.

Is this the early 00s or 2025? Sometimes it’s hard to tell. And it would be easy to think our current obsession with bringing back trends from the past is all about wishing for simpler times. And, of course, that’s part of it (I mean, who doesn’t want to go back to a time where no one knew what a “slide deck” was?). But right now, culture isn’t simply clinging to the past—it’s remixing it to make sense of the future.

- Charlotte Ellis, Editor ♡

Tired of posting “great” content that gets ignored?

You’re hitting “publish,” but something's off. As in, you're not getting comments, followers, or sales.

The problem? You don't know how to tell a good story. You know, one your audience cares about. Because when they buy into your story, they buy into your brand.

In this 90-minute workshop, we’ll show you how to use storytelling to make your brand un-ignorable.

What you’ll learn:

✅ How to create content that builds trust, gets engagement & creates loyal followers
✅ How to build an emotional connection with your audience
✅ The 3 crucial elements every story NEEDS

You'll leave with practical frameworks you can apply right away. Bring your questions and we’ll bring everything we’ve learnt from growing an audience of 3.2M followers.

30 Oct | 8:30-10:00 NZT | $49 (recording included!)

WHAT’S HAPPENING IN MARKETING TODAY?

Claude has a baby brother, Spotify will keep running ICE recruitment ads & OpenAI intros new browser

Anthropic launches Claude Haiku 4.5, a smaller, cheaper AI model.

Small but mighty, apparently. The model, according to anthropic, is fast and can outperform other larger models that were considered cutting edge just months ago. For example, Claude Haiku 4.5 is better at using computers than Claude Sonnet 4, the midsized model launched in May.

“It punches way above its weight,” Mike Krieger, Anthropic’s chief product officer told CNBC. Anthropic has a whole family of LLM’s, the smallest being the Haiku, their midsized model is the Sonnet and the largest model, Opus. I’m not quite sure what the use is for so many AI models, but, pop off, I guess. Claude Haiku 4.5 is now available as a lower-cost option for all of the platform’s users.

Spotify says it won't stop running ICE recruitment ads.

So cool, you guys. According to The Independent, the streaming service does not see anything wrong with the fearmongering propaganda currently running on the platform, which contain references to "dangerous illegals." Why? Because they do not violate policy and are "part of a broad campaign the US government is running across television, streaming and online channels".

The ads, which one TikTok poster said began with the words "millions of dangerous illegals are rampaging the streets", meet the company’s advertising standards, as per a Spotify spokesperson. Therefore, the platform will not be removing them any time soon.

Digital platforms including HBO Max, X, YouTube, Amazon Prime Video, LinkedIn and Meta, as well as cable television channels, have also reportedly been broadcasting ICE ads.

Open AI introduces its own browser, Atlas.

Man, these AI companies got time. They’re launching new products more often than Nick Canon has offspring. The latest? ChatGPT Atlas, an AI browser with ChatGPT built directly in to it.

"With Atlas, ChatGPT can come with you anywhere across the web, helping you in the window right where you are, understanding what you’re trying to do, and completing tasks for you, all without copying and pasting or leaving the page," a blog post states.

RIP Google. It’s been real.

-Sophie Randell, Writer

Hey, do you like YAP?

If so, why not share it with a friend? The more we grow this thing, the more resources we can put into making it awesome for you. Even if every subscriber invites just 1 person to YAP, we’ll meet our growth goal for 2025. So, you in?

DEEP DIVE

We’re not going back, but we’re not quite here either

King Kylie has officially returned. And it’s made me feel all weird inside.

No, the feeling I’m describing is not “old” (thank you very much). Although I will admit, being hurled back into 2016 was not on my current bingo list, and may have evoked some feelings of… seniority.

It’s the same feeling I get with all the current nostalgia bait circling around.

Tumblr girls are resurfacing. Skinny jeans are (still) threatening to make a comeback. Y2K is holding on for dear fkn life. Everywhere you look, brands and influencers are reaching for nostalgia like it’s an emotional support blanket, perhaps as a way to make sense of a world that feels increasingly alien.

And that’s why it feels so uncanny.

We’re in one of the most transitionary periods in human history.

AI is completely rewriting how we work, create, and even think. The internet we grew up with is dissolving into algorithmic chaos. The standards of beauty, culture, and communication are being flipped and remixed daily. Everything feels both new and exhausted, exciting and terrifying. It’s like living inside a buffering screen.

Meanwhile, instead of looking ahead, we’re scrolling backward. Back to early-2010s makeup tutorials, flip phones, indie sleaze eyeliner, and a time when our problems felt cuter, like “why don’t boys like me?” instead of “will AI make my job as obsolete as my dad’s old pager?”

The problems feel heavier now. More existential. The stakes have changed, so nostalgia becomes a way to self-soothe, a warm bubble bath for the collective brain. Glass of wine included.

Nostalgia, in this moment, isn’t a trend. It’s an anchor. But it’s also a product.

And who knows how to sell that feeling better than the Kardashian-Jenner family?

The “King Kylie” comeback isn’t about going back to a simpler time. It’s about recreating one. I promise you, Jenner isn’t nostalgic for her pre-billionaire days; she’s nostalgic for the hype that built her empire. The original King Kylie era wasn’t defined by authenticity; it was defined by obsession, virality, and the illusion that you were in on something chaotic and personal.

Now, by reviving that same energy, she’s baiting us into a sense of familiarity. It's digital déjà vu that feels safe while we continue to feed the machine. It’s not comfort; it’s choreography. But maybe that’s why it works so well: it scratches our itch for “before” while keeping us scrolling toward “next.”

And that right there, that’s the paradox of right now: we’re standing in the middle of a "cultural portal" of sorts.

One foot in what we knew, one foot in what we can’t yet comprehend.

And it feels like Freaky Friday in this b*tch.

It’s a liminal space: the unsettling in-between where everything looks blurry and contradictory. Where we long for the stability of the past but can’t unsee the possibilities of the future. We’re nostalgic, yes, but not just because we want to go back. It’s because we want to feel grounded again.

And that’s what makes this era so interesting: the tug-of-war isn’t destructive. It’s creative.

The tension between nostalgia and innovation is forcing culture to hybridise and invent new forms that honour the past, but belong to the future.

Think of AI models trained on vintage aesthetics. Or musicians like Charli XCX and PinkPantheress, who use futuristic production to resurrect the textures of early-2000s pop. Or the way user-generated AI videos like "Harry Potter by Balenciaga" show the brand aesthetic remixed in the wild.

Whether or not the brand itself created them, the effect is telling: haunting and familiar at once. Even the rise of Polaroid and camcorder aesthetics on TikTok is less about regression, and more so reinterpretation, using old tools to express new emotions.

We’re learning how to shapeshift. How to carry the softness of what was into the strangeness of what’s next.

The revival of King Kylie reminds us that reinvention is the whole point. That even in the chaos of change, we can still find something familiar to hold onto.

We’re not going back. But we’re not quite here yet either. We’re somewhere in between.

So, what does that mean for brands?

It means nostalgia still works, kind of. But only if it moves somewhere. Audiences can sense pure sentimentality from a mile away. They don’t want to relive the past; they want to reinterpret it.

My best advice is not to press rewind, but remix. Like how Miu Miu’s office-girl aesthetic references the 2000s but reframes it through the chaos of 2025’s work culture. Nike’s recent ad campaigns blend archive footage with AI-generated visuals, reminding us that legacy and innovation can co-exist in the same breath. Even indie creators are remixing nostalgia through new mediums, like AI-zines that feel like Tumblr pages built by robots.

This isn’t the time to choose between nostalgia or futurism. It’s the time to blend both, to pair familiarity with friction, comfort with curiosity.

Because that’s where audiences are living: in the tension between who we were and who we’re becoming.

And yes, sometimes a Y2K comeback is just fun. Not every low-rise jean needs a dissertation. But when you zoom out, this collective reaching-back says something deeper: we’re learning how to remember and reimagine at the same time.

No need to escape the portal. Just learn how to play inside it.

-Sophie Randell, Writer

TREND PLUG

I'm making a complete what of myself?

This trend's purpose-built for 2 kinds of people: those who struggle to read the room, and those who had a spiritual awakening after seeing The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie in theatres in 2004 (I'm the latter... maybe the former too).

Early into this masterpiece (yes, masterpiece), SpongeBob falsely assumes he got the manager role for the Krusty Krab 2, runs on stage at the grand opening ceremony and begins speaking. Mr Krabs tries ushering him off by whispering to him, but SpongeBob just repeats back what he hears:

[Mr Krabs whispers] "I'm making a complete what of myself?" [Mr Krabs whispers] "The most embarrassing thing you've ever seen?" [Mr Krabs whispers] "And now it's worse because I'm repeating everything you say into the microphone?"

We've all been SpongeBob at some point: forced to come to the slow realisation that we've made a fool of ourselves. Whether you've hard-launched a relationship only to break up the next day or you're being critiqued by your inner voice, everyone's had moments of extreme confidence crumble to dust in mere seconds.

How you can jump on this trend:

Grab this sound and film yourself lip-syncing with SpongeBob's parts. Then, add onscreen text describing a time you embarrassed yourself, but didn't realise it right away. For extra points, test those acting chops by having a confident facial expression that gradually fades.

A few ideas to get you started:

When you're taking it easy on a Friday afternoon, blissfully unaware you've got 5 late tasks
When you trash-talk a client once they leave the meeting, but the audio recording they can access is still rolling
When you write an overly personal Teams message to a work friend, but accidentally send it to the company group chat

- Devin Pike, Copywriter

FOR THE GROUP CHAT

😲WTF: Why would you do this to your car
❤How wholesome: Scaredy-Dog
😊Soooo satisfying: Espresso Chocolate Shot
🍝What you should make for dinner tonight: Steak Fajitas

ASK THE EDITOR

How should I approach creating a social strategy for my business? -Margaret

Hey Margaret,

The first step is really understanding what you're wanting to get out of your socials at this stage of your business. Something like "get more sales" is far too vague. Instead, you need to have something specific you're trying to achieve. For example, last year we did the water bucket challenge where Jony poured water over her head every day.

At the time, our primary goal was to grow our following on IG. Our team was heading to NYC to expand the business, so this content series was designed to get more followers ahead of that trip. Earlier this year, our content series was designed to get more people in the door to have coffees with Jony. So one of the main goals of the content was to educate our audience that this is something they can actually do. So before you can create a strategy, you need to have clarity around what you're trying to achieve, then go from there.